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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030769">Winds Ablaze</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWeirdPhilosopher/pseuds/TheWeirdPhilosopher'>TheWeirdPhilosopher</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender, Voltron: Legendary Defender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ALL the characters are important, Airbender Allura (Voltron), Allura is the same age as Keith, Alternate Universe - Avatar &amp; Benders Setting, Angst, Avatar Allura (Voltron), Avatar State, Bending (Avatar), Blood and Violence, Canon compliant in some aspects, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fights, Fluff, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, It's still a war, Not a Klance Fic specifically, POV Alternating, Post-Avatar: The Legend of Korra, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Violence, teenagers being teenagers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-03 01:55:26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,151</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24030769</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheWeirdPhilosopher/pseuds/TheWeirdPhilosopher</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Allura has been on the run so long that she knows nothing else. Her desire to help is trumped her desire to survive when Firelord Zarkon has a bounty on her head and the eyes of fire nation loyalists around ever corner.</p><p>Allura wishes to be anyone but who she is. How can a young girl with no direction in life and a limited grasp on her powers be fated to bring balance to an entire world amidst a war? It seems she may be given her answers when a white lion spirit begins to give her guidance. But rather than showing her how to defeat the tyrannical firelord, it leads her to a bunch of ragtag teenagers and an honored warrior turned betrayer of the fire nation.</p><p>Allura decides that universe must truly work in mysterious ways if this is the message it decides to send...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Winds Ablaze</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Panic was an emotion that Allura could say she had something akin to familiarity with. It had remained a vigilant companion since firelord Zarkon took the first step in destroying a (still) fragile peace between the nations by murdering her father and razing her village. She’d been on the run ever since.</p><p>Zarkon had been a good man, once. A just man. He was the fire lord known for making great bounds in restoring his nation to a sort-of-prosperity it hadn't seen since its collapse during the era of Avatar Aang. Zarkon started his legacy on the throne as a young ruler passionate about following the works of his predecessor firelord Zuko and ensuring the continuation of that legacy, but somewhere along the way he'd changed.</p><p>Painstakingly crafted alliances, years of friendship, Zarkon had formed between the leaders of his fellow nations burned away in instant, and once the firelord had cut his losses, he took to attacking tribes, villages, and dominating kingdoms one-by-one.</p><p>Zarkon's closest friends made the mistake of confronting and made themselves a threat. He targeted each of their homes and slaughtered them before attempting to take their lands; some fought back and won, others were either taken over or burned.</p><p>With the death of these leaders, war began.</p><p>As Zarkon began attacking and seizing control of prominent chunks of the other three nations, rumors swirled on the wings of the South winds that the fire lord had made a deal with a vengeful spirit and surrendered his soul for his countless victories on the battlefield. His raging, violet fire that was said to poison the skin of those it came into contact with.<br/>
But the North winds whispered claims of a benevolent spirit held captive deep in the firelord’s castle and being tortured into assisting in Zarkon’s vile plots.</p><p>Wherever Allura went, there was more speculation than anything on what corruption had consumed the man that had once been her father’s best friend. No one could agree. No one knew.</p><p>So, Allura ignored the rumors and chose to focus on what she did know… Firelord Zarkon was a murderer. No matter her parents history with him, he was the reason why her childhood had been snatched away. Why the warm kisses she’d once received from her mother were replaced with plaguing nightmares of her wails of agony as she pleaded for Zarkon to spare her husband. He snatched her nights spent playing hide-n-seek with the Altean children and smothered them in nights of cowering from fire nation soldiers.</p><p>He’d ruined her life. Destroyed her family. And refused to let her be at peace.</p><p>He would never let her soul rest. Because, so long as she was alive— so long as the avatar was alive; She was a threat.</p><p>It’d been over a decade since Allura had last laid eyes on the man. No longer a child, she’d grown accustomed to remaining vigilant, never staying in one place for too long, and honing her abilities in the elements -or at least trying to. Besides her father’s best friend and her trusted guardian, Coran, Allura kept emotionally distant from those she interacted with. Forming attachments to village children or the lovely elderly woman who ran a rice shop would only bring pain in the depths of heart when their villages were razed… Or when you had to say goodbye.</p><p>Sometimes it was inevitable. Their unconditional kindness, their wisdom would worm its way into Allura’s heart and a mark was left upon it. She considered those who had bypassed her defenses family and would always put them first if they were in need. She wouldn’t risk losing family again.</p><p>It was a major flaw and the young woman was aware. Coran had lectured her about it one too many times when they’d first fled her home and Allura found herself putting her own self-interest at risk for all who showed a bout of kindness to the lonely child that she was. The world moved quick in teaching her how man can exploit and harm even children if it furthers their own agenda.</p><p>With time, Allura proved good at keeping her distance. Even those she considered family, she managed to keep at arm's length, most of the time...</p><p>But there was one person in all the four nations who if they were to ask Allura for her heart, she would give it to them with her soul in tow…</p><p>Which led to the predicament she was currently in: caught in a sudden snow storm, her brown flesh turning blue, and thick, frosted ropes wrapped under both her arms and tied around as she lugged a hefty sled through the snow with her body.</p><p>Her legs had gone numb what felt like hours ago. Her arms might’ve been bleeding but to check would mean taking her eyes off her course and losing her momentum.</p><p>She couldn't afford to stop.</p><p>She couldn't afford to feel.</p><p>Not when there was a still body bundled up in layers of fabric</p><p>Allura just needed to breathe.</p><p> </p><p>She could see it now. The outline of civilization standing out against the deepening black edges of her vision. The outline of salvation. Now, all she needed to do was make it to the gates. Make it to the gates… Allura paused, her leaden trod through the white blanketed tundra coming to a jarring halt. The gates were so far away. She shook the defeatist thoughts out of her head and pushed forward. But her momentum was gone. Wet, icy shards of snow smacked against her skin with promises to consume her and as her shivering came to a stop, part of her yearned to embrace the fate the unforgiving arctic whispered into her ears.</p><p>But… She had to… Make it to… The towering structures swam in violence waves in her gaze creeping closer like they were being dragged along on the back of an inchworm. Allura’s lungs burned. The moisture in them all but dry-freezed to the walls of the organ they resided in. Her knees grew weaker with each push forward, buckling under each step, shooting her forward and inciting the frosted ropes under her armpits to claw away at the skin there. Before the ground could grab her, Allura would catch herself. And in a slow and agonizing manner, she would drag herself up from the snow and resteady herself before continuing on -not bothering any longer to stare in horror at the blood dripping from the wounded cavity down her side. She was numb to it now.</p><p>This time, however, when Allura went down, she couldn’t catch herself; her arms stuck out following the triggers of muscle memory but collapsed upon hitting the snow. And once she hit the ground, her battered body refused to get back up. The ropes had slipped off her shoulders somewhere during her plummet but all Allura cared about was the snow filling her ears and nostrils. She rolled onto her back with a frail, panicked sputter; the sound could barely be heard, let alone felt in Allura’s numbing body. She looked up at the rising dawn sky of the North Pole and let out a weak sigh as patch-by-patch the lightening blue of the sky became consumed by the darkness.</p><p>
  
</p><p>"Nan, are you sure this a good idea,” a nervous voice whispered hesitantly amidst the sound of drawing curtains.</p><p>There was an abrupt scoff, the curtains drawing again, and the sound of sloshing liquid moving near.“I’m a healer, Lance, and these folks are in need of healing. What other idea is there to be had?”</p><p>“It’s just... “ A pause. Steps shuffling closer. Shifting with nervous energy. “That guy had a whip, nan! And not just that but rope and blades too. What would a traveler need a whip for out in the tundra—”</p><p>“I’m not here to judge the travelling essentials of a full-blown adult Lance,” Came the reply in a soothing but dismissive tone. “That said," Shuffling again followed by a sharp smack and a yelp. "Go rifling through our guests' things again and I just might put that whip to good use. You were raised better, boy. You have no idea what these two may have been going through. Nor or you in any place to cast judgement.”</p><p>Silence remained the only retort.</p><p>“Now, if you’re done with this nonsense. Could you make yourself useful and get some balms from my cabinet while I work. The longer you stand around doing nothing but distracting me, the worse their conditions could get!”</p><p>“I’m sorry, nan, I’ll go get the balms.”</p><p>“Gracias, mio. The strong one, please. Top shelf.”</p><p>At once, there was the sound of footsteps exiting the room and a gentle thud of something being placed on the floor followed by a heavier something dropping next to it. There was a cool warmth… Then the darkness returned with an enveloping embrace.</p><p>
  
</p><p>“Wake up, my dear. You’ve been asleep quite long enough; you need to eat.” The elderly voice held a familiarity that Allura couldn't place. She didn't have any living grandparents. They died long before she was born. It couldn't be a village elder… They'd been gone for quite some time…</p><p>Allura wrestled her eyes open and tried to blink her vision back into functioning. Dark brown locks nestled against browned skin came to her first in a human shaped blob. Next, came deep blue eyes and a gentle, wrinkled smile. The longer allura looked on, the clearer the figure before her came from her grey roots to mole under her eye and the creasing of the crow lines alongside her narrowed eyes when Allura started to come to.</p><p>"That's it, dear. Can you sit up for me?"</p><p>Allura did as requested, holding back a groan at the wave of nausea radiating up her throat. She felt like she'd run laps across the entirety of the Earth kingdom. Fierce trembles wracked her body threatening to have her collapse in on herself. This is why she never stopped long enough for her body to truly rest. Doing so would let all of the trauma and exhaustion catch up with her and render her near immobile. It made the day when she would have to continue running 1000 times more difficult.</p><p>"Don't move quicker than you can handle, we don't want you to wind up dry heaving on the floorboards," Oh, she had no idea… "Drink this." A leather thermos of some kind was pressed into Allura's trembling hands and her fingers were gently folded around so that she could cradle it. The weakened lining of her stomach revolted at the scent wafting from the opened top. The mere thought of consuming anything sounded felt like a burden she'd never wanted to bear again, but forcing mind to rule over matter, Allura brought the thermos up to her mouth. It was a broth of some kind, light but flavorful with some kind of grain swishing about in it. As soon as she started to drink, she was being made to stop, the thermos being pulled away by the hands of the elderly woman.</p><p> "Don't drink too much. You've been through quite the wringer and your body needs time to recover." Allura's displeasure must've shown in the way her fingers tightened around the thermos. The old woman tittered and patted her hands with a patience that reminded Allura of her mother. "We have to heed with caution and care when our bodies are in a fragile state, my dear," despondently, Allura released the container when it was coaxed out of her hand and settled back into the blankets. "What we want is not always best for us," the woman mused placing the broth onto one of the many shelves off to the side of the bed.</p><p>She turned back towards Allura, taking to her knees on the ground and smiled. "I'll give you more throughout the day, promise."</p><p>The sweet words managed to grace a smile from Allura that she didn't realize was in her. She didn't smile much anymore of her own accord. If she did, it was because Coran had taken to employing his manic energy to rip one out of her. Thinking of Coran made Allura's brows furrow in corner. Where was he? She need to find him and make sure he was okay. She had no idea if the healer in front of her could be trusted, but if she knew where Coran was, Allura would play nice. Hopefully he was being dealt a similar treatment as her, and they could make a quick break once he was healed.</p><p>The elderly woman had been saying something to Allura all the whilst she was worrying over her guardian, but she managed to tune back in to catch the tail end of her dialogue, "The fact that you used it the thermos is already good news. You're body was not severely damaged by the tundra... you're a strong young woman." Allura blinked. The woman's tone implied that her physical strength wasn't the only thing being addressedd here...</p><p>Following that disconcerting gaze, she looked down at— <em> Oh </em>. Her hands. Her marks. She'd been away from civilization so long that they hadn't crossed her mind… The paste she'd rubbed over them days ago had clearly wiped away. Displaying the blue arrows that singled her out to society. Once they'd been her pride, now they were a burden.</p><p>She couldn't think of anything to say...</p><p> </p><p>"You're quite far from the mainland…" The waterbender continued, attempting to prompt a response from the young girl.</p><p>Allura gave a non-committal hum, staring blankly at the backs of her hands with cinched lips.</p><p>"Who are you running from?"</p><p>She laughed, bitter and sharp. "You and I both know the answer to that."</p><p>"I can't say that I do," the elderly woman replied entirely unbothered by Allura's response. Her casual air rubbed Allura entirely the wrong way. She wanted to <em>leave</em>. "Airbenders are becoming more common nowadays. The sight of one isn't nearly as alarming to locals unless they happen to be a prisoner in the run."</p><p>"A prisoner running all the way to the South Pole?" Allura failed to tamp down the defensiveness that leaked into her voice. All the comfort that she'd felt earlier on had bled away with each invasive comment about her situation. She had no possible way of knowing what this healer woman could get out of asking so many questions (that, frankly, were none of her concern) but what she did know is that even the nicest old women could stab you in the back with enough encouragement. Divulging any sensitive information about herself was not in the cards. Not ever. She didn't trust like that. Shifting up as much as she could manage with her fatigued muscles, Allura met the woman's eyes cooly.</p><p>"Just because Airbenders are more common placed than they used to be doesn't mean that they're <em>safe. </em>I trust that even small water tribes stay up to date enough to know that Firelord Zarkon does not hesitate to show his distaste for the new wave convergence benders, and that his citizens follow accordingly. Not to mention that his way of "rallying" citizens behind the war effort is to put those he deems lesser than in factory camps!" Her chest heaved with the fury of her words. "Many airbenders have been forced to run from homes and entire regions to protect themselves and their families. So for you to first assume that I, as an airbender, are some kind of criminal rather than an individual escaping for safety within the current social climate is horridly offensive of you."</p><p> The woman let a pause settle between the two so that Allura could settle down. Her breathing had grown ragged amidst her tirade and her skin was beading with sweat. Pulling over a bowl of water and a rag that sat tuck near the bed, the woman ringed out the cloth and held it out in front of her complacently. When Allura shifted her gaze away and voiced no protest, she began dabbing the girl's forehead as she spoke, "I apologize for upsetting you, my dear. I'm not here to make assumptions, I'm merely asking for clarity."</p><p>Allura let out a weak sigh as the coolness ebbed into her skin and soothed a burning in her forehead that she hadn't realized was there. </p><p>"As one of the elders of this village, I assure you that we do not intend to harm you,"</p><p>Allura wanted to believe her.</p><p>"If anything, we- <em>I </em>wish to help you. Firelord Zarkon is a tyrant. The poles may be outliers compared to other nations, but that does not make us blind. We are well aware of his rampaging ways, but we do not have the power to stop such a dominant nation as his. Especially not a tiny, offshoot village such as my own on the outskirts of the Southern Tribe. Still we do what we can." She took to dabbing Allura's cheeks next. "I did not suggest that you were a prisoner on the run as a means of offense. In times like these, word of mouth is a powerful thing for rebel forces." The woman's voice lowered considerably as she continued, "As you mentioned, the firelord punishes citizens for their "lesser" status in his eyes, but work camps aren't the only thing being done to them. Those known to be working in the resistance or supporting rebellion groups such as The Blade are being imprisoned as we speak."</p><p>Allura stared in shock. In some ways she had known, but sometimes you're brain is unable to compute a situation until it is explicitly expressed. The Blade of Marmora read as no more than a wives tale to the airbender. She heard and heard and <em>heard</em>. But she'd never seen any sign of the elusive resistant — looking back on it, that's probably for the best. But now, to hear that everday folks were putting their lives on the line to help and support them... And they were being locked up? It hurt.</p><p>"Some members that were not captured have been breaking the rebels out of high security prisons around the nations. It's an arduous task, no doubt, and it has taken them months of planning for a short window of execution that could fail in so many ways. When the prisoners are released, they are spread out their the nations and given safe havens to escape to take refuge in."</p><p>Allura realized where this explanation was going.</p><p>"I assumed that was why you were here, but now," She grasped Allura's hands and cradled them in her own. "I assume it's not that simple, now is it, <em>Avatar</em>?"</p><p>Allura stared down at their joined hands. Willing the answers to all her problems to be revealed in the clasped embrace.</p><p>"No," she sighed. "No, it's not."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey guys, this is a story that I started plotting for a long time ago (before Voltron ended).<br/>I love Avatar The Last Airbender, and though I have my qualms with Voltron Legendary Defenders I love the characters of the series; I'm not ready to let them go just yet.</p><p>This is a passion project that I always come back to so I finally decided to just put it out there and see where this goes.<br/>This first chapter, I started in 2018 and I have been slowly adding to it since then. It's probably a bit rough, but I really wanted to just finish it and publish it to motivate myself to keep writing for it and improve my storytelling in the future.</p><p>I hope you enjoy, and hopefully it won't take me 4 years to write the next chapter!<br/>Comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. I'm also open to taking a few beta readers if anyone is willing going forward.</p><p>P.S. If you find the subtle meme in this chapter, I'll love your forever</p></blockquote></div></div>
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